Author: eanderson

Andrea Dominovic was determined to tell this story. It took several weeks to get permission from her workplace, but “Nurse Andrea” (as she is known) never gave up. She says it’s what her patient would have wanted, and so she made time to talk with us during her busy workday.

Last spring, her patient, “Nary,” passed away from metastasized colon cancer. She was 38 years old and left behind a fiancé and three children: a boy, age 8, and two girls, ages 10 and 18.

Nary had qualified for Andrea’s case management once she was considered “disabled.” By this point, she was having difficulty walking or standing for any period of time. She told Andrea she hadn’t been out of her house in months except for medical appointments.

Andrea knew that Nary qualified for a wheelchair through insurance. But she also knew that the paperwork, approval process, and equipment supplier would take weeks. Nary needed a wheelchair much sooner. Her “big wish” was to attend the upcoming Cambodian New Year’s celebration. The holiday is a three-day event in April, and Nary wanted to share it with her family.

Andrea says Nary “was one of the nicest, most likable people. She appreciated the smallest gestures and put everyone else’s needs before her own.” Her character is irrelevant to her need for a wheelchair, of course. But acknowledging her gentle, generous spirit honors her. It also puts into stark relief the cruelty of our healthcare system’s hoops and hurdles.

When Andrea met Nary, she was sharing her mother’s walker.

A colleague suggested Andrea try REquipment for a free wheelchair. The REquipment program was designed to avoid healthcare obstacles. Since 2014, REquipment has reassigned more than 10,000 pieces of donated durable medical equipment. Manual wheelchairs are our most requested item, and every wheelchair, we suspect, has a story.

At REquipment’s online inventory, Andrea found two wheelchair options. Nary was able to select the chair she wanted and submit the release form right away. Within a few days, our staff called Andrea to arrange a pick-up time in Worcester (since delivery takes longer). “I thought it was very easy,” she told us. She brought Nary her wheelchair that day.

In Cambodia, celebrating the new year begins with people decorating their homes and themselves for the arrival of the new year’s angel. Then there’s giving gifts, visiting temples for blessings, tossing baby powder at one another, and honoring parents and grandparents to receive advice and good wishes for the coming year. From what Andrea tells us, the celebration in this country includes three days of food and picnics.

Nary enjoyed all of it.

We often say that durable medical equipment keeps people safe, helps them get to work and school, and even extends or saves lives. In this case, saving a life happened at the end of life. Nary had her wheelchair for six weeks before she died.

Nary told Andrea, “‘Oh my god, I had a blast! We attended the celebration, and we’ve also been out to eat several times since you brought over the wheelchair.’” She also told Andrea that she was able to do “the simple things, like go out on a date, go out with her kids and get some lunch, or just go over to the park.”

Nary was used to pushing past her pain to put on a brave face for her family. This time, she did it to truly live the last six weeks of her life.

We’re grateful Andrea shared Nary’s story with us, and we thanked her for picking up the wheelchair so that Nary could have it for as long as possible.

We like to think of Nary using it, tossing baby powder with her children, laughing.

When Andrea first met Nary’s kids, she says they were so quiet and frightened for their mother. Now she tells us, “If it wasn’t for you guys, I’m not sure any of these last moments with Nary would have happened. The family is so grateful. These are moments that her kids and fiancé can always remember her by.”

REquipment is proud to learn that our gently used, durable home medical equipment is supporting the mission of Louison House in North Adams, Massachusetts. Louison House provides unhoused neighbors and those facing housing insecurity with creative housing solutions and “innovative special services” (says the Louison House website). Those services include tapping our equipment inventory for their shelter residents.

“When I know we have a resident coming who needs something, I start looking on your website right away,” says Maureen Clark, Resident Services Director for the Louison House Transitional Housing Shelter. “I also keep my ear out for equipment to donate back.”

Last year, this informal partnership had a profound effect on the lives and well-being of three community members in the northern Berkshires. The residents arrived at the shelter with an acute need for durable medical equipment, and all three left with their needs met, thanks to REquipment and Maureen’s diligence.

“One gentleman, a proud southern man,” Maureen recalls, was at first too proud to use the manual wheelchair she obtained for him though his need for it was obvious. He grudgingly accepted the chair but “kind of fought with himself about it” while he stayed at Louison House. Now, Maureen says, she sees him with it all over town. “Which is good because he’d always been a social butterfly,” she laughs.

The chair, put simply, gave him back to himself.

Another resident, a long-time chair user who’d had multiple strokes, arrived at Louison House with his manual wheelchair in shambles. “The tires were worn, the seat was falling apart, handles coming off. His need was dire.” Keeping an eye on our inventory, Maureen obtained him his first-ever power wheelchair. “It put less stress on his hands and restored his mobility, which meant he didn’t have to rely on his PCA worker for everything. That chair did what it needed to do.”

The third resident was a woman who had not yet used powered mobility equipment though she has MS, diabetes, and a seizure disorder. Concerned, Maureen acted quickly when she saw a scooter appear in REquipment’s inventory. Maureen knows we only get a handful of power scooters donated each year and that they go quickly. She also understands the positive impact a scooter could have on a woman with progressive MS.

“Now she lives where there are sidewalks, and if she wants, she can get over to the sub shop and get a sandwich and over to the social security office because that’s a local office. She is very happy and appreciative,” Maureen emphasizes.

On its website, Louison House lists Compassion, Respect, and Empowerment among its core values. These are values we’ve long understood to be furthered by DME reuse.

We asked Maureen, “What has REquipment meant for your program?”

She responded simply, “Dignity. Independence. And hope.”

Learn more about REquipment at diligent-gray-hare.162-244-253-142.cpanel.site/.

Congratulations to Jeremy “Jem” Patrick!

This year’s competition was fierce. We had some extraordinary applicants. In the end, however, Jem Patrick’s application surfaced with just the right blend of academic commitment and community engagement—fueled by personal experience—to take the prize.

Jem is pursuing a BS with a self-designed concentration in assistive technology (AT). They discovered the AT field when they joined the school’s Disability Culture Club. From there, they found their way to support students in the UMass AT Lab and to an internship at Stavros (a REquipment program partner!), where they helped refurbish durable medical equipment.

Jem’s application essay makes powerful points:

“With the skills I learned from my internship, I have become the go-to mechanic whenever anyone has issues with their wheelchairs or other DME. As part of the community, the people I help aren’t just nameless clients; they’re my friends, my roommate, my partner. By expanding my skills and pursuing this career, I am directly helping those closest to me.”

About the Jen Baker Memorial Scholarship, Jem writes: “It will allow me to develop the skill to better aid those closest to me, as well as people just coming to terms with a new disability, as I was only a couple of years ago. To me, a career in AT is not just a job; it is my responsibility to my community.”

Congratulations again, Jeremy Patrick. We are thrilled to support you on your professional and personal journey and excited for the wealth of experience you will bring to the AT/DME reuse field.

The Jennifer Baker Memorial Scholarship is a $1,000 award that honors the memory of our beloved program director, who passed away at the start of 2022. Jen Baker was a lifelong learner who helped build the REquipment program.

A few years ago, Massachusetts State Senator Walter Timilty (Norfolk) recognized his neighbor, Brendan Cook, on the cover of REquipment’s annual report. This was during the annual Southeast Regional Legislative Breakfast (hosted by Easterseals and Old Colony Elder Services), an event designed to inform lawmakers of the value of disability programs for their residents. It was, needless to say, a lovely moment for our program.  On our cover, Brendan stands smiling with support from a standing wheelchair he received from our inventory. This year, as we again advocate for REquipment’s funding, we decided to follow up with Brendan’s mom, Kathy Bosworth, and learn the big picture of REquipment’s role in Brendan’s life.

Kathy, we soon learned, is one of REquipment’s biggest fans. She first discovered REquipment during the pandemic when Brendan’s customized power wheelchair broke, and replacing it was nearly impossible. No-contact orders exacerbated the usual vendor delays; residents at Brendan’s group home spent months in lockdown to reduce the risk of infection.

For more than a year, Brendan had only a manual wheelchair and was dependent on others to get around. Ultimately, it took three years for his insurance-provided chair to arrive. Luckily, REquipment gave him another option.

“Brendan got a new power chair [from REquipment], a brand new chair,” Kathy emphasizes. “And he used that chair for over a year.”

REquipment is the only reuse program in Massachusetts that refurbishes power wheelchairs, and every now and then, a power chair is donated to us that’s hardly been used at all. Specialized chairs can cost upwards of $60,000, and while Brendan’s “new” chair wasn’t customized for him, “It really did the trick while he waited,” Kathy relays with obvious pleasure.

Empowered, Kathy began keeping her eye out for more equipment in our online inventory. She also requested brochures to pass around and made sure the other parents in her Zoom groups knew about the kinds of devices they might find at no cost from us. “These are things insurance just doesn’t cover,” she observes.

Over the next three years, Kathy obtained a specialized manual chair that could lift Brendan to a standing position, a lightweight supportive manual chair, a portable ramp for accessing the yard off their back deck, and her favorite: “The Weekend Stroller.”

“That’s what we like to call it,” she says of the adult stroller that’s now essential to their family. “It’s lightweight and folds into our car. It’s so easy for us, and he can just relax in it. Every weekend we take him to Costco. If we miss a week, they’ll say, ‘Hey, Buddy! Where’ve you been?’ And the man driving the forklift, he’ll beep for him. Brendan loves that.”

Brendan wasn’t always so social. Before The Weekend Stroller, he was anxious about going out because he didn’t do it so routinely. “Now we can just take him for a walk around the neighborhood. He’s just more comfortable around people.”

Brendan turned 34 on July 5th.  For his birthday, Kathy held his annual BBQ. Brendan uses a manual wheelchair at home (from REquipment) because the manual chair fits easily through doorways. During his birthday parties, Brendan likes to be outside on the deck or inside playing music on his iPad. Because Kathy now has a ramp off the deck, he can join others on the grass, too. “He likes being there when other people are there,” she says.

This year, friends, family, and neighbors came to celebrate, including Sen. Walter Timilty.  The senator, Kathy says, knows him and always waves and beeps when he sees him outside. He also knows Brendan from the statehouse. When Kathy shared pictures for this story, we learned that Brendan and Kathy advocate for legislation important to individuals with disabilities.

Thank you, Kathy Bosworth and Brendan Cook. Your advocacy means the world to Massachusetts residents with disabilities. We’re so grateful Sen. Walter Timilty understands the powerful positive impact the REquipment program has had on Massachusetts families.

Last fiscal year, REquipment reassigned $2.2 million worth of durable home medical equipment to people who need it. 29 tons of DME were diverted from solid waste facilities. Yet our program is at risk.

Do you have a REquipment success story to share with your state representatives? Learn why our funding is on the line this year and send a message to the statehouse.

On Friday, July 7th, REquipment was delighted to host a site visit from State Senator Robyn Kennedy (Worcester). Sen. Kennedy, who co-chairs the Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities, visited our Worcester reuse site located within the Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDS) Central MA administrative offices. We were thrilled to share with her our unique public/private collaboration with DDS, particularly as the legislature’s Conference Committee works to finalize the state budget.

REquipment refurbishes donated durable home medical equipment in a large Worcester warehouse space provided at no cost by DDS (an “in kind” contribution). Through our contracted funds, REquipment, in turn, provides staff, supplies, and other resources needed to refurbish and distribute durable medical equipment out into the community. REquipment is the only reuse program in Massachusetts to refurbish power wheelchairs, and the majority are worked on there. This past fiscal year, the Worcester site refurbished and delivered 877 pieces of equipment. In the coming year, this site will build capacity as we expand into assistive technology (AT) reuse to better support the needs of community members with disabilities.

At the warehouse, Sen. Kennedy also toured DDS’s AT Center. Here DDS fabricates and customizes equipment for DDS consumers and holds seating clinics. Sen. Kennedy learned how sharing a warehouse serves both DDS and REquipment. Our surplus parts are routinely put to work keeping DDS consumers mobile as they wait for vendor-provided repairs (an often months-long process). On one occasion, a complex rehab power wheelchair provided by REquipment was customized by the DDS AT Center for a DDS consumer’s unique needs. Reuse equipment is always provided faster than new equipment, and it can bridge an essential gap as people wait on vendors.

We hope that Senator Kennedy will take what she’s learned and advocate for us with the Conference Committee. Only the Senate’s FY 24 budget proposal includes $500K of annualized funding essential to our program. A cut of this magnitude would threaten REquipment’s ability to support safety at home, access to the community and generally ensure people stay in the driver’s seat of their lives.

We often hear from people looking for a scooter in our inventory. No wonder. Scooters can be great; they allow longer-distance travel if a user has trouble walking, assisting drivers in getting out into their community, running errands, and socializing.

But owning a scooter requires careful consideration. Before you take on equipment that may be hard to maneuver or care for, read on. Thank you, Dan Perkins, REquipment Program Director, for informing these scooter insights.

Do you know where you’ll store it?

Scooters cannot be stored outside. They require a dry heated environment.

Do you have a way to charge it?

Scooters must be plugged in each evening and unplugged each morning.

Can you transport it, if necessary?

Scooters are lighter than power wheelchairs, but they are still heavy. They require two batteries, each weighing over 30 lbs.

Will a scooter be comfortable for you?

Scooters do not provide postural support and cannot accept specialized cushions. They also require a driver with the strength and dexterity to steer and operate the controls.

Will a scooter help or harm your health?

Not everyone thrives using a scooter without postural support, and health issues may become exacerbated. Transitioning from walking to riding may also cause weight gain and a reduction in stamina.  Discuss any scooter plans with your physician or physical therapist.

If you’re a good scooter candidate, learn more about how to choose a suitable device. Download Considerations for Choosing a Scooter, recently revised for our website.

Do you have a scooter to donate? Please let us know. Scooters are often requested but infrequently donated. Be confident a scooter is suitable for you before removing one from our inventory. For the right person, they can be life-changing.

REquipment received a $50 online donation … “In memory of my dad, Harold Kams, who found independence and joy in his last year of life with the red scooter from REquipment.”